© Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS Marvin Hayes of the Baltimore Compost Collective inspects a garden plot.For over a decade, Filbert Street Community Garden Inc. He renovated an acre in the Curtis Bay area of South Baltimore. Under an agreement with the city, the nonprofit now owns the land, a testament to its importance as a resource in one of the city's many food deserts.
© Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS Pears grow in a public garden on Filbert Street."It's a bright spot in society," said Pamela King, senior program director for the community program at the Open Society Institute, which helped one of its members, Jason Reid, launch a nonprofit garden in 2010. This served as a compromise. inclusion of the diverse population living in the area."
On June 7, the Baltimore Board of Estimate released the Filbert Street Garden Inc. report. approved the sale of the property. Accepted for 1 dollar. According to a press release, the organization operated temporary access sites from the city as part of the site's acceptance process by the Department of Public Works.
"I think it's important to create space for people involved in a project like this," said Reid, who has worked in the garden for seven years and has since become a volunteer coordinator, gardening educator and Pennsylvania Master Gardener program coordinator. Overtime in York. . County of Pennsylvania.
“This is truly a community project. Some people who are still on the program, if not family members, feel like neighbors to me,” Reed said.
Reed and her co-founders created a non-profit organization to bring fresh fruit and vegetables to an area that had no access to a market offering nutritious fresh produce. Reed worked with the people of Curtis Bay to turn the land into a community center for fresh produce, livestock, and agriculture, addressing food insecurity and pollution in the South Baltimore region.
Filbert Street Garden supports two wildlife conservation projects, the Pollinator Project and the Native Bat Project, and is home to the largest bee colony in Maryland, according to the nonprofit's website. The garden is also a haven for urban fauna and is home to foxes, woodpeckers, possums, bats and chickens. More than 35 sites are available for public use on a fee basis from April 1 to November 1 of each year. Since it bought the land from the municipality, the organization plans to continue with several subsidized projects.
© Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS Marvin Hayes of the Baltimore Compost Collective keeps a handful of "black gold", as compost is called, in the public garden on Filbert Street in Curtis Bay, where his business is located.“With this sale, Filbert Street Garden intends to strengthen our outreach efforts, further expand our programs, and continue to serve the community by providing hands-on education, promoting local recreation, advocating for environmental justice, creating wild habitats for wildlife, and restoring existing products. nutrition. ... fighting in the wilderness ... here in Curtis Bay," Filbert Street Garden Council President Derrick Wood said in a press release.
According to South Baltimore Community Executive Director Meleney Thomas, the city of Baltimore is home to more than 70 polluting chemical companies, including medical waste incinerators and landfills, as well as an open coal landfill, which are exacerbating South Baltimore's environmental problems and health inequalities. residents. Land fund
"It makes waste disappear faster, but it also adds pollutants and chemicals to our air that we don't fight at the level we need to deal with," Thomas said, adding that pollution doesn't differentiate south Baltimore from downtown. cities. Historically, the city bears the brunt of chemical pollution, and air quality should be everyone's concern.
© Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun/TNS Marvin Hayes, executive director of the Baltimore Compost Collective Program, treats goats that live in a paddock at the community garden on Filbert Street in Curtis Bay.Baltimore Compost Collective, a non-profit composting organization dedicated to environmental justice, has a garden plot on Filbert Street and is working with local high schools to educate students on the importance of composting and soil restoration, said Marvin Hayes, CEO of Baltimore Compost Collective. . Program
Hayes said that when he started gardening he was covered in bottles and needles and the ground was full of metal and lead. He teaches composting workshops at local schools, hoping to make the next generation environmentally conscious and self-sufficient.
"I call the garden on Filbert Street the Wakanda of South Baltimore," Hayes said. “Having wealth means growing your own food, knowing where it comes from, how to take this seed and this food after you have eaten it, take the pieces and turn them into black gold, grow them so that you can eat more, well, What? you feed. the soul that feeds you."
The garden hosts events for the neighborhood, including holiday gatherings, cooking demonstrations, and children's activities. According to the Filbert Street Garden website, it also invites schools, youth groups, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations to learn about gardening and farming.
According to Thomas, the short distance between the garden and the neighbors who live nearby is one of the elements that made it so successful.
“It's important because it's easily accessible. They don't have to go to a festival or watch anything to get to the zoo. They can come right down the street, right into their community,” Thomas said. — A garden is really useful, especially when people need it most. It's really important."
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